Chapter 200

200 Free Spirit

Caspian held out his hand for his wife to hold and asked her while giving a broad smile, “Let’s go then, shall we?”

Anastasia wrapped her arm around her husband’s arm. “Sure,” she happily replied. But before walking with her husband, she looked at Tilla and then asked, “Tilla, why don’t you come along? You also haven’t seen such fields before, right?”

Tilla looked at Caspian, and then back at Anastasia. She smiled and slightly shook her head, “I haven’t seen them before. But I’m good. I think you should enjoy the view with His Majesty.”

Caspian was surprised at how Tilla was letting go of her chance to cling to Anastasia, which she barely did.

“Are you sure? We don’t mind if you tag along,” Anastasia asked once again, to Caspian’s dislike.

“No, I-” Tilla was interrupted when Vincent suddenly arrived there.

“What’s going on here?” he asked while looking at Tilla and Anastasia.

Anastasia pointed behind her and answered, “We were about to go on a short walk there. To stretch our legs before reaching the capital. Would you like to join as well?”

‘No... don’t call everyone!’ Caspian screamed in his mind. He wanted to take a walk with his wife alone. He hoped that Vincent would understand and deny the invitation.

.....

However, he did right the opposite. He enthusiastically replied, “Yeah, sure.” And he also asked Tilla, “You’re also going, right? Let’s walk together, you and me.”

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“Er... T-Together?” Tilla stuttered and gave a questioning glance to Anastasia.

Anastasia grinned at Tilla and said, “Well, you heard Lord Vincent.” She quickly turned to face the vast field and enthusiastically asked Caspian, “Let’s run. Let’s see who wins, you and me, or Tilla and Lord Vincent.”

“Wait what?” Vincent furrowed his brows in confusion. “Are we having a competition? A race?”

Without answering Vincent, Anastasia grabbed Caspian’s palm and ran ahead while dragging Caspian behind her.

“I guess we are competing,” Caspian looked back and shouted at Vincent. He then turned to look at his wife in amusement.

She was grabbing her long gown with her free hand and was leading him across the road.

“Careful!” he warned her when she was about to step on the narrow path that was in between the fields. The path was just enough to put one foot at a time.

Anastasia was a bit skeptical at first. She feared that she would trip over. She also feared that her shoes would get dusty and muddy, and so would her gown.

She took a few steps into the field with great difficulty. Holding the gown with just one hand was making it difficult for her to walk properly.

‘And I was thinking of running!’ she laughed at herself. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have come here. Should we go back?’ she wondered.

Caspian was seeing her struggling. And he was wondering whether or not to carry her in his arms. ‘She will get shy if I carry her. And I also think she would love to see the field while taking her time. Carrying her will only make her close her eyes and ruin the experience.’

Keeping that in mind, he didn’t offer to carry her.

Tilla was worriedly staring at Anastasia from across the road and thinking to herself, ‘She’s getting rebellious each day. I just hope she won’t exhaust herself before even reaching there to the capital. Else, the Crown Prince will get mad at me for not taking proper care of her.’

Vincent was also staring at the couple who were taking forever to take a step when they were to announce that it was a race. He was trying to guess the rules of the race by watching them, but he didn’t think that it was important anymore.

He sighed and turned his gaze towards Tilla. And then he asked her, “I think the two of us are the racing partners. Shall we start?”

Tilla was in no mood to take part in such childish games. She was too worried at the moment. So, she shook her head and answered, “I think we already lost. They are already blocking the path.”

Vincent smirked and said while puffing his chest a little, “Don’t you worry about that, Tilla.” He looked around at their surroundings to see if any villagers were around. When he didn’t see any, he held out his hand and asked Tilla, “May I?”

“Umm...” Tilla looked at his hand and kept on standing there, confused.

Vincent was getting impatient with Tilla’s indecisiveness. “Please excuse me.” So, he swiftly picked Tilla up in his arms.

Tilla’s heart almost jumped out of her mouth when she was swept off of her feet like that. “M-Milord?” she mumbled in confusion.

However, before she could say another word or protest, Vincent ran and jumped above Caspian and Anastasia. He landed way far ahead of them.

He turned around to look at them and then shouted, “Sorry to take over, Your Majesties. See you on the other side of the field. You already lost. So, take your time.” After saying that, he asked Tilla to hold on tightly and ran like a gust of wind.

Anastasia sighed after watching them disappear. She didn’t want to run like that, there was no point if she wouldn’t be able to see anything. So, she was ready to give up on the idea of running in the field at her own speed.

“I think we should go back,” she mumbled in a disheartened voice.

Caspian frowned and asked, “Are you sure? Do you want me to carry you?”

“No. I’m already tired,” she replied and then pursed her lips.

Caspian didn’t want to push her when she was saying that she was tired. So, he agreed to go back, “Okay then. If you say so...”

Until now, Anastasia had been too focused on her feet. She hadn’t been able to enjoy the view as how she had imagined. So, before going back to the carriage, she looked ahead at the field to imprint the beautiful scenery in her mind.

Her heartbeat suddenly leaped the boundary when she looked at the beautiful golden field from up close. The only things that she could see at the moment were the luscious crops swaying with the rhythm of the soft breeze, and the clear blue sky that met the field at the horizon. Vincent and Tilla were far out of her sight by now.

She took a deep breath and wondered, ‘They say we run through a field before reaching heaven. Is this what that field looks like?’

Anastasia felt a sense of determination again. She wanted to run, even if it was for a minute or less.

“I guess I should try once more,” she said to Caspian and pulled her hand away from his hold.

“Oh, alright.” Caspian decided to look after his wife from the back.

Anastasia gathered the front parts of her gown and secured it with both of her hands. Instead of looking down at her feet, she looked ahead at the horizon. She put faith in herself that she wouldn’t trip.

And after taking deep breaths a couple of times, she walked forward. When she got the hang of the narrow path, she slowly increased her pace, ultimately running like a free spirit in the middle of heaven.

Anastasia’s happiness knew no bounds. “This feels like a dream!” she whispered to herself and giggled happily as her feet kept on taking her further and further ahead into the dream-like field.

Caspian was watching his wife from right where he was earlier. He smiled and thought, ‘Yes. It indeed feels like a dream.’ He couldn’t believe how lucky he was. ‘She looks like a fairy running in the garden of heaven.’